Massachusetts Republican Party

The Massachusetts Republican Party is the Massachusetts branch of the US Republican Party. From 1858 through the 1920s, the Republican Party was the dominant party in the state, initially advocating classical liberalism and abolitionism. During the 1920s and 1930s, demographic changes led to the WASP-led GOP declining as Massachusetts turned into a Catholic Democratic state. By the 1950s, the urban and suburban areas were mostly Democratic, with rural areas such as Barnstable, Nantucket, Dukes, Bristol, Berkshire, and Franklin Counties being strong Republican bases. The Kennedys ensured that Massachusetts was strongly Democratic until the 1980s, with Massachusetts voting for Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984. From the 1990s to the 2010s, the governorship essentially alternated between Republican and Democratic governors, but the state legislature always had a Democratic majority. In 2017, the Massachusetts GOP held 6/40 State Senate seats and 34/160 State House of Representatives seats.